I Want Out of C+

[Brie_no.20]

I really, REALLY want to get out of C+.

I don’t know what it is, but I’m almost always paired up with players who don’t know how to play or just refuse to. I’ve actually purposely stepped back during matches to see what my teammates are doing, and most of them can’t prioritize what needs to happen, or they just aren’t aware of what’s going on on the map in ranked. I just played a few Splat Zone matches in Camp Triggerfish a while ago that just drove be bonkers.

The first few matches I had, one person wasn’t playing and just stood at the spawn point (great, thanks). There was a match where it felt like I had to maintain control of both zones by myself, and make sure I didn’t get flanked by the enemy team. In another match, our team kept getting flanked, yet when I was respawning near the end of the match, I saw that a teammate had placed a beacon at our spawn point (where were those beacons during the entire match!?). Things like this keep happening in my matches, where my teammates are clueless and the opposing team knows exactly what to do, and I’m sick and tired of it.

I know it’s not me, because whenever I twin or squad with B rank players in an online group I’m a part of, I can keep up with them just fine. We cover our bases well and are able to get things done. And even when we lose matches, they’re enjoyable because I at least know that my teammates knew their roles and played as best as they could.

I don’t care what anyone says: you can tell the difference between a true C player and a B player. I know that I’m a B player, I've gotten this rank before and that’s the rank I want to maintain. But the game keeps pairing me up with players that can’t do jack squat.

 

[binx]

You need to realise you're the 5278th guy to make such a post. Lots of people complain about their teammates being bad and that it is the reason they can't rank up. But it's not. Of course you'll think I'm mean (to stay polite), but well I'll still say it cause it's needed.

Why am I saying that? Because basically, C+ is quite weak. So, *obviously* your teammates are weak, all kinds of weak: they can't aim, or they don't know what they are doing, their weapons are not good for their "styles" and so on, possibly everything. But you just need to win a little more than 50% of your games to go up (and even less in C+ maybe?). Basically, you can have bad days, your mates are bad, the next are too, afks, DC guys, trolls and so on. Game after game. But you can't say you have those guys always in your team, day after day. That's it: your opponents are just as useless as your mates most of the time. And that's why if an S/S+ player makes a 2nd account he won't stay weeks at C+.

There is no communication, so you're thinking "they're bad, they should do this" based on the 10% you see of their games, and they think the same about you because they witnessed you when you got splatted. In squad you have communication so, as you saw, you understand better and you're understood too. Even if you go up in B, A or S, you'll still think your allies are bad because of the lack of communication, wondering what they're doing and why they choose to do that stupid move.

THAT BEING SAID, maybe I should try to give you advice.

First of all, you can't do anything about your mates. If you find a troll you can block him, and you can leave a lobby to change players, but that's pretty much it. That means you should just accept whatever allies you have and just focus on what you can do yourself. That's essential: just forget about the others and become stronger by yourself. You don't need to be carried.

Then, think about your weapon. You need to choose a weapon based on what you like to do. You need to understand the weapons, their strenghts, their weaknesses, their purposes. Once you have it, realise the exact range, think about how to (ab)use its strentgh, avoid situations where you're put at a disadvantage. Use the training area.

Ingame, each time you die, realise why, and think about how to avoid it.

A final advice: don't be overactive. If you keep doing this, and that, and this, and that again, with the tempting excuse that "my teammates aren't doing sh*t", you'll just do nothing in the end. By being more patient, you'll have time to assess the situation, have better judgement, easier kills. And that means you'll be a better player, a better teammate.

If you have a way to record a game (sometimes even a mobile is enough), you can ask advice from stronger players too. They'll spot your worst mistakes. And about videos, you can find videos of strong players on YouTube or even Twitch, and maybe you'll find tricks or skills which could help you.

Edit: Here comes the link of an old video about this, from a strong european player you might know (DUDE):

 

[Heart of Ice]

It's also worth mentioning that you can never truly know the intentions of your teammates. For instance I was in a Rainmaker match on Camp Triggerfish and I wasn't anywhere near the Rainmaker carrier. He kept mashing the C'mon button because he was clearly frusturated. But what he didn't know was that I was distracting 1/2 of the enemy team and leading them away from him. I avoided killing them to the best of my ability because that would cause thrm to respawn near him. I lead them away as far as I could from him, but I don't think he ever realized this.

 

[swamphox]

The good thing about c+ is that it isnt just your mates who are bad, its everyone...no offense. Goal oriented play works well here. This is especially true in rainmaker. Figure out quick routes to your goal. Get the rm and ink them. Often times u can do this while everyone else fights amonst themselves, this is especially true for camp trigger fish.
Supportive play doesnt quitebwork as well so play as if your mates arent (because often times they wont) This is a huge deal for me in a+, everyone is more focused on s/d ratios more than actually winning....in fact the main diff, Between s and a+ is that s rank players play much better as a cohesive unit. S players wait to gain advantage and push from there.

Whats your set up? Weapons, gear and what u do with them make a big diff. When I was a noob and would listen to other music while I played, the bomb sniffer ability was good for almost an entire lettter rank.

 

[Elecmaw]

-Don't play Rainmaker if you want to rank up, like ever. It's a fun mode, but it requires a lot co-operation with your team.
-Don't stick with a single main weapon just yet. Try out everything and see what works with you the best. I ran until rank S Splatterscopes, but i realized i'm still a bit better with Heavy Splatlings. Managed to breach S+ several times with Heavy Deco!
-If you notice your team is weak, don't immediately think of the match as an autoloss. If your team has a particular weakness(not focusing enough on kills, forgetting about map control, focusing too much on kills, not pursuing the objective, being oblivious of flanks), then help accordingly and leave the usual duties to your team. Remember that you're 1/4th of your team and that any weakness it has is also partially your responsibility.
-If your team sucks at all of these then switch to a pure killing role to stop the enemy from causing too much trouble on your team, it's not easy but it's still possible.
-WATCH THE MAP! It's allmost like a free echolocator if you look at it enough. You'll stop many flanking attempts dead in their tracks with if you can see them coming on your map.
-Snipers only start becoming something resembling a threat once you reach Rank A. Most of the time they keep missing constantly, by now you really shouldn't be afraid of them.
-If you have trouble maneuvering try getting across the Story Mode stages as fast as possible, you'll learn how to play better. Speed actually matters a lot in this game.
-If you want to learn how to aim better try doing trick shots in the test area. It's also a good place to warm up before heading into another ranked session.


I know from experience C+ can be stupid but the same stupidity is present in every single rank, even at S+.

 

[veenickz]

What i learned in C rank was how to play the objective
What i learned in B rank was how to carry my team
What i learned in A rank was how to work with my teammates

And what i learned in S rank was how to... save scum? :p

Well anyway, what really matters for rising rank is victory. This is very obvious, but think about it. The goal is for you to win. Only that. The goal is not you win using certain weapon or certain gear or certain playstyle. Just win. Focus on that.

How can i win on this mode? What weapon is good in this map rotation? What can i do with this weapon? What is my weakness? What gear should i be using? How should i start the game in this match? Those are the questions you need to consider before start queueing

And when the match started, remember what weapons are your team using, what weapons are being used by your opponents so you know what to expect and what to watch out for and act accordingly

Be flexible. Try other weapons. Learn how to deal with the popular weapons. Learn how to use various subs and specials, and how to deal with them

Or just dont care about all of that and just play. Play a lot. Get 300+ hours in and you'll be good naturally

 

[Brie_no.20]

You need to realise you're the 5278th guy to make such a post. Lots of people complain about their teammates being bad and that it is the reason they can't rank up. But it's not. Of course you'll think I'm mean (to stay polite), but well I'll still say it cause it's needed.

I’m not calling you mean actually. But I like how you point out how I’m the umpteenth person to make a post on this and yet, assume that I don’t know that C is full of weak players (that, or high-level players who are clearly don’t belong in C rank and are using alternate accounts. I’ve run into a lot of those).

Lack of communication isn’t actually my problem believe it or not. Like I said, I’ve played alongside other B ranked players and manage to do quite well with them. I don’t use Skype or anything like that during matches and you don’t necessarily need it either. I’m not claiming that I’ve never make stupid mistakes. I have, but all it takes is having some awareness of the map and knowing what you need to do with your weapon, because that goes a long way. But from the matches I’ve been having, that’s too much to ask of my teammates.

Focusing on improving yourself is fine up to a certain point. This is still a team-based game, which means at some point I have to rely on my teammates to pull their weight as well. And this game just isn’t fun when you’re playing with people who can’t do that. When you have a 16-3 kill ratio with a Splatterscope in Tower Control and your team still lost, you can't say that I didn't do my job right.

 

[ultra777]

I’m not calling you mean actually. But I like how you point out how I’m the umpteenth person to make a post on this and yet, assume that I don’t know that C is full of weak players (that, or high-level players who are clearly don’t belong in C rank and are using alternate accounts. I’ve run into a lot of those).

Lack of communication isn’t actually my problem believe it or not. Like I said, I’ve played alongside other B ranked players and manage to do quite well with them. I don’t use Skype or anything like that during matches and you don’t necessarily need it either. I’m not claiming that I’ve never make stupid mistakes. I have, but all it takes is having some awareness of the map and knowing what you need to do with your weapon, because that goes a long way. But from the matches I’ve been having, that’s too much to ask of my teammates.

Focusing on improving yourself is fine up to a certain point. This is still a team-based game, which means at some point I have to rely on my teammates to pull their weight as well. And this game just isn’t fun when you’re playing with people who can’t do that. When you have a 16-3 kill ratio with a Splatterscope in Tower Control and your team still lost, you can't say that I didn't do my job right.

One thing you have to realize about kills is when you get them. Did you get them when you were pushing the tower or when the enemies were pushing the tower? Once I made a new account to see how far I can go with the Squiffer. Since I didn't have access to the Fresh Squiffer I had to use the classic version which isn't as good for pushing the tower imo. So I got most of my kills from defending the tower instead of pushing it. I only stopped the enemies' score but didn't increase our score. I was the only one who tried to push the tower but I was using a weapon that has difficulty pushing the tower. I wasn't able to get our score high enough to win the match. I realized that in lower ranks it's hard to use weapons other than shooters like the Tentatek to carry the team. I suggest trying a shooter like the Tentatek if you want to rank up since they are good at pushing the objective instead of defending it like a charger does. In higher ranks when people know what they're doing then you don't have to play a weapon that's good at pushing the objective since your teamates will do it. Hope this helps.

 

[Green Waffles]

Spoiler: You want out of C rank??

[/SPOLER]

NO!!!

Ha jk, just use luna blaster neo (or any new weapon, C ranks are the best place to shop around)
and always push the objective or protect the squib pushing it.

Be the babysitter for your teammates... except with a gun.

This is 175% team game, but it is very VERY hard (if not impossible) to change your teammates and their playstyle.
It is much easier to improve yourself to S rank levels and carry your teams.

Also, if you aren't already, try booyah-ing your teammates when they happen to do something good, even little things like pushing the tower. You might actually make an impression and make them want to kinda impress you.
I've played games in my voice chat squad as the silly sod AND the grumpy, silent grouch. It is always downhill when I play salty grouch.

Ranking up, generally, takes time. The exceptions people will post when they go from A- to S+ are because of a good mood for them and/or they got lucky with teammate/opponent matchup.

 

[Brie_no.20]

I realized that in lower ranks it's hard to use weapons other than shooters like the Tentatek to carry the team. I suggest trying a shooter like the Tentatek if you want to rank up since they are good at pushing the objective instead of defending it like a charger does. In higher ranks when people know what they're doing then you don't have to play a weapon that's good at pushing the objective since your teamates will do it. Hope this helps.

Clearly, since the Tentatek is a weapon that splats me often.

You were right to suspect my play though. I almost always play defense/support and the weapons I usually use (Slosher, Charger/Squiffers) are what suits my playstyle the best. That's probably why I feel frustrated often, because going aggro is too much of a risk for me. So I have to work to clear the zones that have priority so that my teammates can move in. When they don't...I have to force myself to go in just for the sake of progress, even when it's not always the right call. I've learnt to keep myself from overextrending and going off too far from what needs to happen. But I'm still not a strong enough player to carry my team when they don't get things done at crucial moments.

 

[Elecmaw]

Clearly, since the Tentatek is a weapon that splats me often.

You were right to suspect my play though. I almost always play defense/support

Well there's your problem right there. You cannot play support 100% of the time, especially not if you think your team is terrible. I really don't get why so many people on this forum want to go for a support build in solo queue when your teammates are unreliable to begin with.

You really have to go and try playing on the offensive. You'll probably get splatted sometimes in doing so, but it's another aspect of the game you have to learn.

 

[mercenariez]

When I first started I was stuck at C+ for a while too. To move up I read a ton of guides here on squidboards, watched a lot of high level streams, and watched lots of guides on YouTube. B- is another story, and you might drop down once you get there for the first time, but anyway here are some of my tips:

1) Go into recon, figure out sneaky spots and sneaky angles for your charger. Trust me, you may think you know all the maps but I'm at S+ and I'm still discovering new ways to maneuver or position myself. Be comfortable moving around the map fast and efficiently.

2) Make the most of your charger's subs and specials. For example, the E-Liter with Kraken can pretty much never die if you watch for flanks and unleash Kraken in time if someone approaches. Beakons might not be that great though since low ranks don't know how to use them lol.

Splatterscope's splat bomb rush is great in tight areas but not so great in open areas. Also, note that chargers cannot turf in splat zones as well as other weapons, so you MUST get kills, you can't just paint the zone in this mode if you're a charger. Learn about stuff like that, there's a lot to learn.

3) Slosher used to be kind of crap tbh, but since the patch it can be one of the most powerful weapons in the game. Attacking from high up (e.g. throwing paint off the buildings on flounder) is a very powerful tactic that cannot be countered very easily. It's shot can also go over walls, which pretty much makes you invulnerable at times, so take advantage of those moments and positions. It can also paint very well (obviously) so give your teammates some help and paint paths for them that haven't been painted.

Also, if you find your opponents are down to 1 person or are wiped, a great tactic is to immediately paint their areas to block their paths. This forces them to be unable to move, and must reveal themselves when shooting.

4) Work on your aim. Go to the shooting range (test weapon mode) and simulate movements and shots you would do in real matches.

5) Learn about the tricks and trade for each mode. Some weapons are better on certain modes than others, and some weapons are better on certain maps than others. Inking weapons and weapons with inkstrike are great for splat zones; blasters are good on TC, and in RM well there's a lot of variation lol.

Also make sure you have a good GEAR BUILD. If you're going to pick up the RM for example, try using swim speed or run speed builds. In TC, stealth jump is an insanely good ability. That kind of stuff.

Hope this helps.

 

[Ansible]

Clearly, since the Tentatek is a weapon that splats me often.

You were right to suspect my play though. I almost always play defense/support and the weapons I usually use (Slosher, Charger/Squiffers) are what suits my playstyle the best. That's probably why I feel frustrated often, because going aggro is too much of a risk for me. So I have to work to clear the zones that have priority so that my teammates can move in. When they don't...I have to force myself to go in just for the sake of progress, even when it's not always the right call. I've learnt to keep myself from overextrending and going off too far from what needs to happen. But I'm still not a strong enough player to carry my team when they don't get things done at crucial moments.

As a fellow support player, my heart and e-hugs go out to you.

Sure, you can stonewall your opponent's progress, but if you want to win the match you need to be a moving stonewall. Like some ancient ruin wall/ceiling trap that slowly advances to crush their victims. That's what you need to do more of when taking the defensive approach.

Overtime I learned that if I'm going to have to be aggro, then I have to attempt making engagements tilt in my favour. So that means no overextending myself or haphazardly charging in. Sometimes you can manage to encourage or rally them with a few "C'Mon!/To me!" taps at the right moment, like during a push when 3/4 of your opponents are down or your team has much of the map covered.

When your teammates finally move in, try turning their fights into a 2v1. Ink their feet, ink an escape route, cut off their opponent's escape routes, trap their opponent in ink, drop ink on their opponent to partially damage them, and/or fight their opponent. Make the situation as favourable for your team as possible. Especially when you have the priority on lockdown. Before and after you have the priority, you also need to create as unfavourable an environment as possible for the other team. And sometimes that means having to briefly get your tentacles dirty if your team is having trouble doing that on their own.

 

[birdiebee]

Focusing on improving yourself is fine up to a certain point. This is still a team-based game, which means at some point I have to rely on my teammates to pull their weight as well

Its been said, and I'm not trying to grill you, but what else can you do other than focusing on improving yourself?

The greatest misconception about team-based games is that you have to rely on your team mates. The script is entirely different when everyone can communicate, but since they can't, you have to change your perception of the game and never rely on team mates. I've mentioned this in other help threads; I personally never squadded until I hit S rank. I wanted/needed to learn to carry myself. I didn't want to get into a habit of depending on anyone, or expecting team mates to be there when I realized early on that they might not be. Its out of my control. All you can do to rank up is focus on the things you can control, as others in this thread have highlighted in great detail, so I won't waste your time.

I just think that, aside from actual practical advice outlined by @binx and @mercenariez and @Ansible and @Elecmaw and others, the right mindset can go a really long way in helping you improve your game. Never think "Why did they do that?" Always think "What can I do to make up for that?"

 

[Dessgeega]

Well there's your problem right there. You cannot play support 100% of the time, especially not if you think your team is terrible. I really don't get why so many people on this forum want to go for a support build in solo queue when your teammates are unreliable to begin with.

You really have to go and try playing on the offensive. You'll probably get splatted sometimes in doing so, but it's another aspect of the game you have to learn.

Hey, just to nitpick, but I clawed my way to S+ playing in exactly that manner. From my experience, you can't always rely on your teammates, but if you can distract and irritate the enemy enough, even lousy allies can take advantage of the opening and push to victory. Of course it doesn't always go that way, and being super-supportive in solo DOES take a hell of a lot more practice and skill, but it IS possible.

 

[mercenariez]

I honestly need to work on supporting my teammates better. When I start dying a lot sometimes I go "where is everybody?" But then I realize I haven't actually saved any of them a single time so I can't complain xD

 

[Cuttlefish]

if it's any consolation, i wouldn't be all that surprised if your teammates had similar thoughts about you. not because you're necessarily a bad player, but because it's a lot easier to shift the blame on others than ourselves. this is a team-focused game, and you are 1/4 of that team. as much as it sucks to think of it that way, you're not really gonna solve your problem by blaming others. after all, how can you change the random players you play with? simple answer; you can't. you have to change to make up for their (in your opinion) shortcomings. that's what makes a high rank player, a headstrong individual who's willing to apply themselves where others won't. being a good player is much more than just getting a lot of kills.

one of my most memorable experiences in this sort of vein was a S+ TC game, i went 15-5 with the Octobrush, getting atleast two quad kills during the match. we lost miserably, of course. it was only afterwards did i notice a huge mistake of mine - after i took out the enemy team, i was kinda taken aback that none of my team were anywhere near the objective. instead of taking it myself, i sort of stood there, bewildered. what i should have done was gone and taken the tower myself, and worry about rounding up my team as soon as i did that. this is what i do now, being a support player doesn't mean standing around waiting for the fight to come to you, sometimes you need to bring it to them.
but anyway, you can see that even S+ players fall into this trap of "it's all my team's fault, I'M a great player because i got all those kills!"

as much as you'd want to think being able to keep up in squads is indicative that you're not at fault, it's unfortunately not as clear-cut as that. solo queue does weird things to people, all that synergy you had in your squad? gone! it's a bummer, but what can you do :p

so basically my advice to you, besides all the great practical advice in this thread, is to reassess your behaviour and playstyle. try new weapons, new abilities, have fun in squads (this is important, you need to make sure you're still having fun with the game), dabble in Turf when you get frustrated, and all in all, try to avoid playing the blame game. noone is at fault, you all need to improve, including yourself. and in any case, don't let the rank drag you down. if you know you're a B player, that's all you need. i'm a S+ player, but i fell as low as A- a few months back. doesn't change the fact i was still playing alongside and against S+ players and holding my own, just as i should. the ranking system is flawed in many ways, it's easily manipulated, but also seems like it's working against you most of the time. the less you care about it, the better.

 

[Brie_no.20]

@Ansible

Before and after you have the priority, you also need to create as unfavourable an environment as possible for the other team. And sometimes that means having to briefly get your tentacles dirty if your team is having trouble doing that on their own.

You know, I never thought about doing that. I need to look up ways to make that happen. Thanks for the tip.

@Cuttlefish I didn't mean to make it sound as if I think that getting the most kills is priority or makes me a great player. I meant in that specific case, I was able to consistently stop the enemy team from advancing up to a certain point and had control over a certain space on the map. I was saying that more often than not in situations where this happens, it doesn't seem as if my team is aware that I have an area covered and that they can confidently push forward.

You're right, acting as support doesn't mean that you just stand there. I'm not a passive player, but I do need to look for other ways to help my team other than acting as a 'stonewall' like @Ansible says.

 

[Cuttlefish]

@Brie_no.20 sorry if I misunderstood, it only sounded a lot like how I think sometimes, and figured you have the same thought pattern (most of us do!)

I'm glad you could take that away, though. stay positive, a great support player can mean everything for your team. if you're a charger, probably the biggest first step is to reposition yourself constantly. take your sniping to the front lines when you need to, and try to stay decently close to the objective or choke points. don't be afraid to take the objectives either, especially the Tower. use your subs and specials to keep you safe until you can regroup.

good luck !

 

[Green Waffles]

.

take your sniping to the front lines when you need to

Squiffer(bamboozler too, I guess) is a weapon that will force you to do just that.
You'll probably won't like it, but you just might. You'll at least start to grasp when it is advantageous to go in as a sniper(almost never, but sometimes)